Caden Sterns is “persistent” — at least that’s how his mother, Brandi Biddy, describes him — and three years ago, his mind was set on LSU when she convinced him to go to UT for an unofficial visit.

“My mom was like, ‘Just visit, you never know,’” Caden recalled.

“When I went on that visit I wasn't even thinking about Texas at all,” Caden said.

The truth was, Caden loved Texas growing up. Brandi still remembers watching Texas beat USC in the Rose Bowl for the BCS National Championship with her two kids, Caden and Jordan.

“Growing up, that was the team,” Brandi said. “We were watching when they won the national championship with him and Jordan. It was just us three. We were all in our little apartment. Jordan grabbed Caden and threw him over his shoulder. They were running around, chest bumping and we were all high-fiving.”

But things changed between that night in Pasadena and the 2016 season. The Longhorns were no longer “the team” for Caden, who became a five-star safety at Steele High School. In fact, Texas was limping through another 5-7 season when Caden committed to Ed Orgeron and LSU.

Caden put it bluntly, the Longhorns weren't on his radar ever since his brother, Jordan, who also played at Steele, went to Oklahoma State after not receiving an offer from Texas.

“I grew up loving Texas, probably up until the point when my brother went to Oklahoma State,” Caden said. “I ain’t gonna lie, I really didn’t like Texas that much because I felt like my brother should have gone to Texas, or should have been offered by Texas.”

While Caden was over five months separated from his decision, Texas had one thing going in its favor: It takes about 90 minutes to get from Cibolo to Austin. And if there’s anything that tops Caden’s persistence, it’s his relationship with his mother.

As a single mother, there were times when Brandi juggled more than one job, working as a store manager for a clothing store during the day and at the San Marcos treatment center on some nights.

“My mom did a lot, she was the father, she was the mother and she had to learn how to teach me and my brother to be grown men at a younger age,” Caden said. “We had to mature earlier than I feel most people had to.”

“We didn’t have a lot of money, but me and my brother were never told that because she busted her ass everyday to give us everything we needed,” Caden said.

The Visit

It was May 2017, and while he committed to LSU back in November, UT and Brandi managed to get Caden on campus for an unofficial visit. And that’s all the Texas staff needed to enter the conversation.

“When he visited Texas, Coach Naivar and Coach Washington were just incredible recruiters,” Hutto defensive coordinator -- and former defensive backs coach at Steele -- Adam Harvey said. “Then you bring in Bryan Carrington and Tom Herman and all that he’s done in the recruiting world -- it became apparent real quick that not only was he going to consider Texas, they were going to have a really good shot.”

As Caden and his mother drove home after the visit, Brandi recalled a phone call between Caden and Jordan.

“Jordan told him, ‘I think you’ll like it more being closer to home. You won't have to go so far. Momma won't have to go so far, she can go see you more,’” Brandi said.

Despite the hard feelings for not offering his brother, watching his mother try to get to both his and Jordan’s games ultimately played a factor in his decision.

With Caden playing on Friday nights and Jordan playing in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Saturdays, Brandi sometimes drove from Cibolo, Texas, to Stillwater and back -- over 900 miles round-trip -- all in one weekend if she wanted to see both of her kids play.

Caden said he knew his mother didn’t care where he went, as long as it wasn't Oklahoma, he joked. But Baton Rouge is roughly seven hours away from Cibolo, and Austin, even with the game day traffic, is hardly ever more than two.

Later that weekend, Caden made the announcement: He was officially flipping his commitment from LSU to Texas.

Caden’s formal introduction

Texas Longhorns defensive back Caden Sterns (7) blocks a field goal attempt by USC Trojans place kicker Chase McGrath (40) during the third quarter of an NCAA football game between the Texas Longhorns and the USC Trojans on Saturday, September 15, 2018 at Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. Texas ran it back for a touchdown. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

While Cibolo is just 60 miles away from Austin, that didn't change the fact that Brandi was now dealing with an empty nest. Brandi said it wasn’t necessarily hard to let him go, but the emotional goodbye was inevitable.

“I still cried whenever I had to leave him after we moved him in,” Brandi said. “I still had my little moment.”

As she said farewell to Caden, he was getting ready to formally introduce himself to Longhorn fans, and it didn’t take long. Sterns made a good first impression, and it was a primetime showdown with USC in front of a sold out crowd at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium that set the stage for his grand introduction.

USC kicker Chase McGrath, the same kicker who sent Texas home after a game-winner in double-overtime the year prior, lined up a field goal on the right hash from 50 yards out in an attempt to cut into Texas’ lead to make it a one-possession game.

Then Sterns flew through the USC line and did his best Dikembe Mutombo impersonation, swatting the ball nearly 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

“That happened really fast,” Brandi said. “It took me a minute. I turned around to talk to the person next to me when it happened. It took me a second to catch up with everything going on and the fact that he blocked the field goal. Of course then I was losing my mind, jumping up and down like I was crazy.”

Sterns flew in to collect the loot, but he couldn't secure the loose ball. Texas linebacker Anthony Wheeler eventually grabbed the ball at the 45 and ran down the sideline with Sterns and a convoy of Longhorns for a game-sealing touchdown.

The #4 play on Trey & BK’s Top 20 Plays Countdown from the 2018 @TexasFootball Season is... Caden Sterns’ blocked FG that was returned for a 46-yard TD by Anthony Wheeler against USC!

At the tail end of the dominant freshman season that earned him Big 12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year, Sterns went down with a knee injury in the Big 12 Championship against Oklahoma.

That same injury is what kept Sterns out of the Sugar Bowl, and triggered an injury bug that plagued his sophomore season.

“Sophomore year was probably my biggest, most important year in terms of understanding how things are,” Caden said. “You're not gonna be invincible. You're gonna have times where things just kind of crumble on you.”

The high expectations for Sterns’ sophomore season were met with an ankle injury during the first scrimmage of preseason camp. Then, he suffered a sprained knee against Oklahoma State in Week 4, which sidelined him four games.

“During that part of that season, or really just that whole season, I was not mentally or physically right because I was just so stressed out,” Sterns said. “I was just hard on myself 24/7 and I said, ‘This is not me.’”

Looking back on his sophomore year, he was honest when asked at what point in the season he realized his sophomore year would be different.

“To be honest, Louisiana Tech,” Caden said. “Just because I knew there were some complications with the injury.”

When Caden opens up about last year’s challenges, he regularly follows it up with a clarification: These aren’t excuses.

These injuries were indeed real, though, and they allowed him to find the people who stuck with him through the lows of 2019 and taught him the importance of rehab and taking care of his body.

“I feel like I learned so much from last year,” Caden said. “It's a life lesson because life's all about being resilient and being able to bounce back, so that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Repaying the favor: ‘She deserves the world’

Texas Longhorns defensive back Caden Sterns (7) intercepts a pass intended for TCU Horned Frogs wide receiver Jalen Reagor (1) during the second quarter during a college football game between TCU and the University of Texas on Saturday, September 22, 2018 at Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

This month marks three years since he went on the visit with his mother.

Now, Caden isn’t only a leader and potential captain for the Longhorns, but he is being projected as a first-round pick in way-too-early 2021 NFL mock drafts. He is also considered the No. 3 safety in the 2021 draft class, according to Mel Kiper.

Sure, the NFL is Caden’s goal, and a very attainable one at that, but taking care of his mother after everything she did for him and his brother is right up there, too. And similar to his mindset when he flipped his commitment, his dream of getting to the NFL isn’t just for him, it’s for her.

“She deserves the world,” Caden said during a media availability on Tuesday. “And hopefully one day I’ll be able to give it to her.”

Caden still has at least one year at Texas, but whether he is putting on a show at Steele, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium or wherever his NFL future takes him, his mother will have a front row seat.

Alex Briseno. Alex Briseño is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin and a college blogger covering Texas football. He was born and raised in Seguin, Texas, and has writing featured at Sports Illustrated, the Austin American-Statesman and The Daily Texan.